Fool In The Rain
by Broken Kilter Express
Summary: She says to herself that she is not that kind of person, and this is how she changed.
1. The Rain Song

Hey, you might recognize me as BKE, the guy who is a guaranteed reviewer in the Haruhi section.

This idea came from a thought after searching through the whole archive and finding almost no Sasaki oriented material, and especially no Sasaki romance fics. People here seem to think that Sasaki would never have a relationship based on what they read in the novels.

And aprilfool1993 set a challenge to people who had a tendency to write based on their gender to flip how they work. If you're a guy, you have to make a social/relationship one, and a girl must write a sequence/event/action based one.

And so, I take two challenges at once.

I'll make Sasaki fall in love.

(Hear a collective gasp).Yeah, some yell, "That can't work!"

Shall we see?

* * *

**.**

**Fool In The Rain Chapter 1**

**.**

Leaves, high in the trees, are all across the scope of ones vision. Springtime has almost come.

Or so anyone could think, but the sky was a maudlin plane of chrome, parallel to the land below, carrying with clouds tall and wide both the mist and mood of a sad and rainy day, obstructing the great Helios from his role of warming the land and whisking away the agents of winter, leaving the world in a state of transition. Cold has held the grounds long enough, and is drifting away, slowly replaced by the warmth that is yet to wax full.

In Kouyuen garments and a glass state of mind, she steps through the park, a black book bag in her left hand. Eyes forward to the train station a few hundred feet ahead, her shoes avoided the opportunity to become heavy weights, saddled in cool water from the many puddles left behind by the last season, yet to be taken by the next.

_It would be fun to splash around a bit._

_It would be._

_But these shoes wouldn't dry out._

_And schools about to start...I'd probably get scolded for something that stupid._

The station was just up ahead. The train was not on the track, so she would have a few moments to wait.

And she stood there. The benches were inviting, but she knew not to take a seat, as her train could show any second.

Automobiles were running quietly in the distance. People coming here and there, with their kids, brothers, sisters, parents, boyfriends, girlfriends.

With others.

A Rumbling transited out from the distant end of the track. Her pass was good for regular travel, flipped out and in her right palm.

The light rail was coming closer, and the small crowd walked forward to the yellow line beneath their feet to enter.

As the train slid to a stop, all the doors jolted before opening. Everyone who needed to stepped off. Two people spoke as they walked, "Listen, I know how you feel, but its not working, which is why..." the door shut behind her as she made it aboard. As she looked around, she spotted a seat, one that faced forward rather than sideways, so she would look down to the front.

_Hmm?_

In front of her, a moderately tall youth, with a placid expression, whose uniform was distinctly different from the boys in her school, was holding on one of the loops above his head with his left hand, standing even though there was plentiful seating in the traincar.

His other hand held up a cell to his right ear, and his expression was serious but calm. He was listening.

"I'll tell him to stop with his stupid games... I know, he doesn't care what I really say...If I could, yes..............He does have to, he sits in front of her.......alright, I'll try to. Bye."

As his phone clamped shut, he turned his head behind him as if to look to something that wasn't there with an expression of mild anxiety. Then his eyes noticed Sasaki looking his way, only for the fact her seat faced forward.

He smiled, as if he figured out or discovered something.

_Hmm_.

She was mildly surprised by his levity. His phone conversation seemed quite heavy. He was definitely good at changing his mood.

At least, maybe hiding it.

He finally took a seat and continued to smile to himself, not looking her direction.

The rush of the train over the tracks was the overriding sound between them.

He continued to think to himself, and she could percieve that he would do a few things...

Every once in a while, he would look to the south, or the northeast, as if sensing something she couldn't.

He would fidget, as if he was seriously worried, and grasp his cell.

If he saw she was looking at him, she got the same smile from him.

This pattern continued for the next 20 minutes. After a while, she figured out that he was two things.

_A paranoid boy._

_An actor._

When the train slid to a slow halt in the station closest to her school. She noticed the boy in front of her also got up to exit.

As she left the station, she found oddly that the boy would pull out a piece of paper that was full of scribbles, as if he wasn't entirely sure where he was moving.

When she was 5 feet away from her, he shoved the paper deep in his pocket. Considering that he was this early in the morning, he obviously wasn't going to be late for anything.

_Very conscientious._

She was tempted to ask him a question.

She spoke.

"What's wrong?"

He looked to her direction, as if noticing a teacher had spoken directly to him. His expression of awareness turned into that same old face.

"It's nothing. My driver was out ill today. I usually am driven across town, but...well, at his age, he is more prone to serious illness."

Can't tell if it's a lie, but if its true, he might have money. He didn't say it was family.

He looked to the crosswalk and spotted that the light was about to change. As the walking man replaced the palm, he stepped forward.

_Going my way?_

She continued to follow him, not because she wanted to but because he really was going her exact way.

His mood was consistent for the rest of the short walk to the area she was getting to. They exchanged no words.

At the bottom of the hill is the Kouyuen Academy, a prestigious and refined private school for those who had far superior grades than average. Sasaki came here, not because she necessarily wanted to, but because working hard now would pay off for her in the future.

It was here that she noticed that the boy was walking up the hill that all the students go who could not competitively score on the entry test. He was going to that other school, the standard prefectural school, the somewhat infamous North High, where the teachers were slow and the AC and central heating had yet to exist.

She paid little mind to it now. But...

_Why would a rich kid go to such a bad school?_

And as she entered the front doors and continued into the hallway of her own school, a very stupid looking boy walked nearby, muttering angrily to himself.

"Stupid sister. Don't hang up on Haruhi when I say to, I didn't mean it. Ah...hell to pay later."

And the frowning young man walked up the hill, heading towards fate.

.

* * *

You'll see the next chap soon. This is a slow setup. With a character like this, you can't hurry love. PSHOOOSH!HAHAHAHA(had to say that.)

I was tempted to work in elements of songfic in, but decided against that. While writing, the music I was listening to was things with the images I wanted to work in:

The Rain Song, over the hills and far away, and Fool in the rain by Led Zeppelin, Riders on the Storm by The Doors, Sweet Talking Woman and Turn to Stone by Electric Light Orchestra.

And I was in a room where Linkin Park and Disturbed slipped into my ears from my young uncle playing 360. Don't know how it's affected this but i just had to.

As part of this pairing, I had to push Kyon out of it. Maybe however, I might tempt the creation of a more complicated pairing set, but for now, I'll be writing.

Note: I read the baka-tsuki trans no. 4 and 9 in april, and I don't intend to reread them until I can get them in paper form, so if any slipups occur in relation to either Sasaki or Kouyuen Academy, my bad.

The disclaimer: Nagaru Tanigawa owns these people, not me.


	2. Some Days Are Better Than Others

The first thing you should always attempt to understand of one another is that they are their own person, shaped by forces that may or may not have affected you in your life. You may not completely know a person, not if you wanted to, and not ever can you know them inside out within a lifetime.

Sasaki is one of those people just like you. The aspects of a person's personality that form slowly, what is inborn and what is taught, made her.

It would be interesting to find what makes her who she is on the inside.

**.**

**Fool In The Rain Chapter 2**

**.**

She walked into the door and looked at the clock. It was 7:10.

The girl with flaxen hair walked through the cavernous entry halls of the academy. In each room, students were gathering in the corners, moving early to their desks, talking about their siblings who annoy them, their instructors who teach them, boyfriends and girlfriends.

She passed a corner, leading her toward the section of the building reserved for athletics. There was a vague odor left behind from years of youths passing through, the smell of teen spirit.

Coming to the door, she twisted the knob to reveal to us three individuals.

The room is alive with their presence, with Kyouko fiddling about, trying to produce for her friends some nutrition for their day ahead. Her whimsical nature flitting about as she tries in vain to not be clumsy. Nonetheless, she is good at what she does, esper and servant.

A light spill.

Kuyoh is off to the side, playing with her electronic toys. Despite the blankness present in her form, she is indeed happy with what she is doing, learning, playing, doing what she wants to now.

At least till any orders come through from the top.

Fujiwara is the same as he always has been, a sour young man, not fit for relationships on account of his sheer volatility and repulsive spirit. However, she notices he holds a book.

She has never seen the title, and she wonders if it's yet to be made.

She sits down with her unnaturally early friends, all responsible people or one would like to hope. Sasaki knows that these friends of hers are here entirely for something cosmic, to the effect that she herself was worth far more than anything the three of them could do or be. A bit crushing to muse that one is lonely save for the souls chosen by higher powers to sit with them for business.

She knows it; at least she, unlike other gods, is aware.

"Good morning, Kyouko."

Kyouko, in her shy fumbling, did not even realize that Sasaki had arrived. "OH," she refrains, "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you."

"Its O.K., What's going on?"

"I just thought to get you something," she reveals a plate of various pastries, a bagel, and a muffin.

"I never see you eat in the morning, and tea won't cut it."

A smile, "I'm fine, I just don't feel like anything."

"You need to eat something to do well on tests and whatnot. You know better."

She does know better. It wouldn't matter if she ate because the cram school made up for it.

"Come on, pick something," the plate rises to her face. The esper is pushy. Having no choice, she must take something.

The bagel.

Fujiwara, rising from the daydream in his book, looks at the plate on the table as Kyouko leaves it. He seems hesitant. He always tends to be like this, as of course, it's common for time travelers to worry of editing the future. Then a realization called an "aw, screw it" took over, and he takes the muffin.

Both nibble and chew slowly away. Kuyoh is engrossed still in a virtual experience. It is 7:20.

Kyouko has her homework laid out on the table; she is a doormat, trying to make sure she can please everyone she can and only choose to do her own thing when it is a crisis. What a fool.

This is a chance for Sasaki to check her homework.

As she searches through her documents, there is no sign of mistakes. Unsure, she asks Kuyoh, the raven-haired enigma, who has put down her device, what she thinks. She looks over the breadth of work as if she were machine, of course not to be forgotten that this creature is not as she appears. Her eyes overlook nothing, scanning, computing completely every single thing on the paper.

Her eyes turn to Sasaki, "There is_no issues __contextually with this. There is a misordering_ of letters______on page 4 ____and a flaw of word order immediately after____that."

"So grammar and misspelling?"

"Yes."

Sasaki looked. "Ah, I see."

As they continue to work, the boy with them does nothing but read. It's 7:30.

Kyouko has gone over her work, a few more errors than the other girls, but she'll be fine. "Hey, Fujiwara, hey."

His eyes look up, "What," pops aggressively from his lips, "What now?"

"Have you done your work?"

"Yes."

"Why aren't you checking it over?"

"It's perfect."

"That's a haughty attitude. Are you really sure you're done?"

He tries to look back to his book, but he knows she'll continue on. His natural expression of annoyance slips across the lines of his face, "YES," his eyes roll around and turn to the source.

"Are you sure?"

"I am 100% sure that I am O.K. I don't need your help. And I'm not asking for it."

"Hey, don't be snippy with me, I'm just concerned with you."

"It would be easier in this situation for you to just leave me alone."

"Well if you're going to keep talking to me like this, then I guess I'll just press the issue harder. Did you finish the work?"

"Oh, for the love of---YES, I DID."

"Then bring it out."

A sigh, and he shuffles about, huffing like a child, and extends himself to bring out his folder. It comes flying out of the bag, "Here is the work."

She takes it and examines. Her eyes scan, not intensely as the quiet girl to the side, but still very heavy.

"Here, there's a typo." She points to a single glaring mistake. "And one here, and it looks as if you made a mistake with the date of this. The Republic of China was founded in 1912, but you wrote it as 1949."

"WHAT?" He haphazardly yanks it from her, ".................The Republic of China was founded in 1949 starting with an address by Mao... WAIT, its' the PEOPLE'S Republic of China." He smirks and smiles like a cat of Cheshire, "It's a missing word, not a wrong date, I can't believe you couldn't tell that-"

"Huh!? I guess I missed that."

"Don't you think it's hypocritical to correct someone and be wrong?" his smirk came out.

"Hey! You made tons of mistakes and you have the nerve to tell me off for trying to help? You need to be more respectful."

What ensued was an argument of serious extremity. They continued to chew on each others ears, yelling and screaming like school children.

In a sense, that's who they are.

Kuyoh watched, curious as to the nature of how such a pair of individuals could have such a stupid thing as typos lead to a debate of extremes, stretching to the limits normal peoples patience.

Sasaki sat watching, keeping her disapproval silent.

Fujiwara was now on the verge of the trademark he carried, his unforgettable sneer, and Kyouko's usual histrionics now blazed fully.

"Listen, I don't even get you, why are you always like this to me?"

"I'm trying to be a help-"

"Yeah its helpful to be an irritating witch-"

"WHAT? HOW DARE YOU-

"Yes! I dared! And who dares wins!"

"Oh, no you don't, you jerk!" She hits his chest.

"That's the best you got?

She hits harder.

"PFFFFTT! HAHAHA-"

SMACK

She made contact to his nose with a right cross.

"EY!", he held his nose, "OW!"

He lunged out and grabbed her shoulders, and started to shake her violently. She continued on to beat on his chest.

"YOU STOP-"

"-I'LL STOP WHEN YOU STOP-"

"-THEN STOP-"

With sarcasm, "THEN STAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHP!"

"CUT IT OUT!"

"It____Is-"

"CUT IT OUT!"

**CUT IT OUTTTT!" "HEY!" "CUTTT IIITTTTOOOOUUUTTTT!" "HHEEEEEEEEEEEYYYY!"**

**BING**

They stopped for the signal. The bell had come.

_The school day is starting._

With an irreverent sigh of irritation, Fujiwara let go of Kyouko's shoulders, and readied himself wordlessly and without mind to the argument and walked out the door.

Sasaki took this chance to ask, "Why'd you have to do that again?"

"I knew he wouldn't do his work completely and he would miss things."

"But you didn't have to drive him to hysterics like last time."

"I wouldn't have to if he'd only listen."

It occurred to Sasaki then and there that had she not taken that bagel, maybe she'd get into the same situation with Kyouko, the overly righteous zealots zealot.

_What strangeness to argue over such pettiness._

"Let's head to class."

.

In the transition with people, shuffling to and fro, back and forth to their seats, Sasaki looked out onto the landscape that presented to her, a spattering of structures, representing the Scope of Nishinomiya, a somewhat sleepy but at other times awake town on the edges of a greater pair of the municipalities of Osaka and Kobe.

It was a good view for her seat, but she knows she must look forward.

After all, she's at the front of her class.

She shared the room with 30 other bodies, those of various students who were just like her, with a strong pressure to succeed.

_The pressure of parents._

She let a flitting vision of childhood, of tears and sadness, anger and hatred come to mind, filling the mind's eye in her for a split second before a booming voice awoke her out of her mesmerism.

The teacher has spoken, "The assignment is due, and I need you all to pass it up. That means you too." And his finger pointed to the back.

The finger led to the boy whose name was synonymous to rectum, "I have it for you. Here." And despite the flaws it contained, it crawled hand by hand to the teacher.

When he examined it, he was bemused, "Boy, how the hell did you get into this school?"

Fujiwara sat silently, with an expression exclaiming to all that he just did not care for others opinions, and that it was worth more to walk into a desert with no water than criticize him. Sasaki wondered about her thought from earlier, if he counts as responsible. Why show up early for school and not give a damn about homework?

The teacher sighed, and returned to the duty of gathering all the classes work.

Sasaki took the stack of documents incoming from her row to the teachers desk. She returned and felt a quick jab in the back. She turned around, and was met by the face of Kyouko.

The esper girl moaned, "We need to make him more cooperative."

Sasaki took this chance to tell the esper, "I don't think that its really an issue. I personally would feel like i'm out of place in this era if I were from some other time. Maybe he doesn't feel comfortable."

"But if he were really uncomfortable, that would not have to do with the fact he continually puts off the work, hes too irresponsible, and it makes it harder to trust him."

Sasaki shrugged off that thought without showing it in her face or saying a word.

_I guess he's not that responsible._

_But he is here isn't he?_

.

The day's classes were uneventful after that, and the four of them stood up, packed their various stationary and literature into their book bags and exited the class room in which they studied through their days.

As she transited in the corridors, she walked past the various humans of her race, a race she usually never saw herself as identifying with, not for the Sagittarian spirit that resided in them, but for their Id-heavy mechanisms of thoughts that pushed and pulled them into unwanted things they yet still hungered and craved for.

She switched her thoughts before she could remember something.

.

They as a whole entered the room again, and cruised slowly to their seats. Fujiwara took out that same book he had been reading, the one whose title was unrecognizable. Kyouko walked to the closet and reached in, bringing out ammonia and a spare rag. She started going about wiping surfaces in the room, cleaning old photos from the American Football club from before they folded when Kouyuen started to cut athletics in favor of academics. Kuyoh nestled in her corner, her hair instinctively surrounding her closer, as she brought out a book and begun reading what appeared to be something Greek.

Sasaki saw this cue and brought forth her own slice of reading, an ancient copy of Don Quixote. It amused and saddened her somewhat, but it seemed to be a good story.

This is not a literature club, these are real readers.

.

Their time was usually peaceful, and this was no different, until someone spoke up.

"MMHMM."

Kyouko cleared her throat.

"I have an announcement to make: my superiors have requested that we each start to share information on the subject of research into the powers of our subject, Sasaki."

_Subject?_

Fujiwara let down his book, "So you want us to tell you everything we know about what's within Sasaki? My superiors and boss will have to approve it."

"O.K."

The boy let down his book and reached into his pocket, revealing a long thin wire that iridescently glowed.

"Hold on."

He lifted it up.

"Commence Physical Transmission."

That's when he started to glow.

The wire spread around him, and he flickered as if he was in a TV screen. His body flattened in appearance, as if the 3rd dimension did not exist.

FLASH!

He was gone.

"O.K. Now next is Kuyoh. Can you ask the Sky Canopy to release any data?"

Kuyoh sat quietly, turned her head upward, and stared out the window.

"______________________________________________Yes."

She sat there still longer.

"___Deliberating._______They will consider it."

Sasaki sighed. Her eyes returned to her book.

Kyouko turned around and started to shuffle this and that various things on the table.

The room remained a sanctuary of peace. There was the occasional sound of active students walking to and from the field outside, and the wind gently caressed their hearing as it passed, moving the silver clouds across the sky as it was darkening, a time when the sun would return earlier and earlier to sleep.

It other words, it was a boring late winter evening.

Kyouko fiddled with the things on her desk, set the bottle of ammonia on the left side and took her seat on the right. Sasaki looked up from her book.

She knew very well that day when Kyouko spoke with audacity, _"I want you to know the full scope of what has been going on."_

"_You are the god of this universe."_

Since then, it seemed not so extraordinary. Details were slowly filled in, and the representatives of three factions came to Kouyuen Academy to examine and guard Sasaki, some giving her tests to understand her more, to try to know exactly what made her work.

So far, they have some ideas, but they don't know the origin of her godhood.

Kyouko stared at the old photos of camaraderie and youth on the wall. She turned to Sasaki.

"Listen."

That was a voice that never came out often from her. It was the voice of a serious person.

"We've been doing more research into something that maybe of the utmost importance to you." She worded this with a tone clean of any pretenses.

"We've been trying to find out why you have so little of your power."

_What? So little?_

"What do you mean?"

"We've been under the impression that somehow it was stolen for the longest time, approximately 3 years ago." Her voice was at its most contemptful and heavy.

"Someone named Haruhi Suzumiya has it. She is like you, but she has most of it."

She explained that sometime in the summer 3 years before, it was detected that a gigantic stream of energy moved across the city, from her to the other and coalesced.

And then it skyrocketed, racing out into the cosmos.

Sasaki was not sure what to make of it. She didn't want to make any assumptions or guesses without education.

So she kept silent.

Kyouko went further to explain some things about her, that she has her own following, and her own factions interested in her.

"So anyway, we need to find out more about this. That is what the information sharing is about. There is actually another group who have built themselves around Suzumiya, and when we noticed how close they'd gotten, we decided we needed to make our move here."

"So far we have made some, but not enough progress. The thing is, our competitors have pulled together and now have direct influence on her."

"We need to find out more."

She kept silent the whole time, but Sasaki understood it without having to ask.

"One last thing."

She spoke quietly

"She goes right nearby to North High."

"North High?"

Sasaki's mind started to connect something, One, then two faces showed, and it was pulled away from its resolution by a distraction.

A slight wind filled the room, and in the center where Fujiwara left, a small thunderbolt grew.

It expanded into the room and did something unusual for a change.

It popped. Violently.

Suddenly things flew across the room, the ammonia hitting Kyouko, spilling on her uniform, and her papers and things she left there flew all about.

Fujiwara was greeted by the angry face of Kyouko as he flickered in.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

"A little wormhole pop. It happens sometimes. Sometimes it's a lot worse, but this was normal."

"Ugghh." She walked off to clean herself in the restroom.

Fujiwara stood still, with a serious but not dead important face.

Sasaki hasn't seen his sneer all day.

Kyouko returned and said to Fujiwara, "DON'T, ever do that again."

The bastard sneer surfaced for a moment to disappear again when he spoke.

"Anyway, I talked to master about it. He can provide you with some data that we know of."

Kyouko nodded with modest enthusiasm and turned to the other important agent.

"Kuyoh, what else?

"They will bring about__an upload of information___soon."

"Good." she smiled, "When can we meet?"

Fujiwara spoke, cause he already knew, "The coffeeshop as always. Saturday."

"Great, now we can catch up."

Since the business of their society was closed, they chose to all leave then. Fujiwara searched and found his book had the smell of Windex in it.

The sneer finally came out.

.

They all left together and split up. It was here that Sasaki noticed that Fujiwara was a little upset over damaging the story he had. She did see that he was always keeping the same distance within the four of them, prompting her to believe his sense of responsibility and sense of duty were two different things.

_He knows what he cares about._

"Sasaki-san?" spoke Kyouko.

"Yes?"

"I think that I maybe made a mistake earlier of calling you our subject." she gleaned.

"No, it's fine. I'm sure that terminology-wise, it just comes off more naturally for someone in your position to have to give me a designation of some sort. Besides, you can't call me the girl with the power right? Especially since it wouldn't write well on a scientific report."

"I'm glad you are O.K. with it."

_It does feel dehumanizing, but it's not meant negatively. Maybe that allows it._

Fujiwara left with Kuyoh in the same direction, and Kyouko followed Sasaki until she was at the turn of her route. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Sasaki enjoyed the somber peace of the last few blocks before she made it to her home, a quaint place that resembled a Tudor somewhat, but remained for the most part Modern.

She entered, not speaking to who she believed was in the living room, if it was her parents or someone else, and went to serve herself her food. She left for upstairs, ate, did her homework, showered, dressed and entered her bed, all without a lick of feeling or exhilaration. She was too tired.

It was laying down when she started to think, the course of the day, the things that reminded her of older things that made her feel in ways she did or did not want to, the things that she was amused at, and every face she saw, some old she still thought about, and the new ones in her life.

Then she remembered that one smile.

She slept soundly with no more dreams, but with one image, that gave her strangely enough, an unknown peace.

.

* * *

A thank you to the 5 that first reviewed this, I appreciate it. I have been stumped as to how to move forward, but working through it, I feel that I have what I wanted in this here chapter. And for quality control, I have even acquired a beta in the form of Superstarultra for this chapter, and got the advice of JonBob0008 and Misaki Endou for this.

The one thing that occurred to me was that for this story to work properly, it would have to be different from other stories of the genre. Rather than rush into such things, I'm looking at a very protracted affair for this, possibly 15-20 chapters or even more. I'm also looking to develop the characters intensely and try to make the definitive ASOS fanfic. I've worked it out better than the plan I had before, and can tell you it will be a more solid experience.

And BTW, I figured an explosion would help. Here's a shout out to Super, JB, and Misaki. I appreciate your contributions. And there is a nod to R. Controversy if you can find it. Fanon that's here if it is not my own is modeled from that used by Aprilfool1993, Super, and Perkele.

Superstarultra: Proofreading, JonBob0008: Consulting, Misaki Endou: Consulting.

Inspiring songs:

She sells Sanctuary by the cult, Some days are better than others by U2, Another Day by Paul McCartney.


End file.
